Subject: Re: OT, out
"Last but not least, many unkind and uncharitable things about the US have been said in this thread. I think that's not cool, especially for this group, which has become enormously wealthy (see Net Worth thread) thanks to Berkshire and America. I prefer Buffett's view of eternal optimism for America, while acknowledging it won't be a straight line."

Why do you think Buffett had/has eternal optimism in America? That is a serious question.

Do you think it is because America is made up of magical soil that makes businesses based in America magically profitable? Probably not, but there has to be some reason that Buffett had/has so much optimism for America. Why do you think he does?

My opinion was that Buffett's optimism came from the idea that America was a great place to ethically make money. Some of the reasons that America was a great place to ethically make money was because of what Mungofitch mentioned: "(a) a profitable and reliable place for investments and (2) a jurisdiction of moral standing suitable for being involved with. That comprises things like rule of law, separation of powers, intolerance of and passable action against bribes and corruption, habeas corpus, political neutrality in sundry arms of the government, respect for international treaties and borders, avoiding committing war crimes, that sort of thing."

Almost all of those mentioned points have been clearly violated in the past few weeks (I can give clear and specific examples if you like, but mentioning specific examples will make this discussion much more political....). Now, don't get me wrong, each of those things have been violated in the past as well, but they were always minor violations and regret usually followed by a vast majority of the citizenry. Furthermore the violations were few and far between. America wasn't perfect but it tried hard and was better than other places. That is what made the optimism warranted. Unfortunately, the violations are not few and far between. It has literally been a few weeks. Furthermore, a large chunk of the citizenry of this country has zero regrets and in fact greatly supports each of those violations.

So if the things that make me optimistic about America are no longer holding true, why continue to be optimistic?

So what is the basis for your optimism in America? Magical soil?

Also, I don't expect Buffett to come out and directly say anything has changed for him, even if it has. However, I really do wish Charlie was still alive. I expect he would have a whole lot to say.